Instagram Image & Video Sizes: Every Format Explained
Instagram supports more shapes than any other major platform — square, two flavors of portrait, landscape, and full-screen vertical — and it silently crops or compresses anything that doesn't fit. Uploading at the right dimensions is the difference between your work appearing as designed and having Instagram's algorithm make cropping decisions for you.
The master table
| Format | Ratio | Recommended size |
|---|---|---|
| Feed — square | 1:1 | 1080×1080 |
| Feed — portrait (classic) | 4:5 | 1080×1350 |
| Feed — portrait (tall) | 3:4 | 1080×1440 |
| Feed — landscape | 1.91:1 | 1080×566 |
| Stories | 9:16 | 1080×1920 |
| Reels | 9:16 | 1080×1920 |
| Profile picture | 1:1 | 320×320 or larger |
Why 1080 pixels wide?
Instagram serves feed images at a maximum width of 1080 pixels. Upload wider and it downscales; upload narrower (below 320) and it upscales, which looks soft. Uploading at exactly 1080 wide gives Instagram nothing to resize, which minimizes compression artifacts. This single habit improves image quality more than any filter or export trick.
Portrait: the format that earns its space
In the feed, taller posts occupy more screen per scroll. A 4:5 portrait post (1080×1350) takes up roughly 25% more vertical space than a square and about 135% more than a landscape post. Instagram has also rolled out support for 3:4 (1080×1440), matching the native ratio of most phone cameras — so photos straight off a phone no longer need cropping. If your goal is stopping the scroll, portrait is the default choice; landscape only makes sense when the image itself demands width (panoramas, group shots, cinematic stills).
Carousel gotcha: every slide in a carousel inherits the ratio of the first image. Mixing ratios in your source files means slides 2+ get force-cropped. Prepare all slides at the same dimensions before uploading.
Stories and Reels: design for the overlay
Both use 9:16 at 1080×1920, but the usable canvas is smaller than the file. The top ~250 pixels sit under your avatar and username; the bottom ~250 pixels are covered by the reply field (Stories) or caption, audio, and action buttons (Reels). The right edge of Reels carries the like/comment/share stack.
- Keep text and faces inside the central "safe zone" — roughly 1080×1420 centered.
- Backgrounds and textures can bleed to all edges; critical content cannot.
- Reels shown in the feed get cropped toward 4:5 or 3:4 in preview — center your subject so both crops work.
Video specs worth knowing
- Format: MP4 or MOV, H.264 or H.265, up to 30fps for best compatibility (60fps is accepted).
- Reels max length has expanded over time; check your account's composer for the current limit — but retention drops sharply after the first seconds regardless.
- Bitrate: Instagram re-encodes aggressively. Export around 8–12 Mbps for 1080p vertical; higher bitrates just upload slower for the same final quality.
Profile picture reality check
Instagram stores profile photos small — upload at least 320×320, though 800×800 or 1000×1000 leaves headroom. Like YouTube, it displays as a circle: keep logos and faces centered, corners empty.
Do the math for your own assets
Need to adapt a 3:2 photo into a 4:5 crop, or figure out what a 1.91:1 banner looks like at 1600 pixels wide? Our calculator locks any ratio and fills in the missing dimension.
Open the Aspect Ratio Calculator →Related: YouTube sizes · all-platform video cheat sheet · aspect ratio basics.